The present invention relates to a device for fixedly interconnecting a large-diameter pipe and a small-diameter pipe communicating with each other with one end of the small-diameter pipe inserted in one end of the large-diameter pipe.
Various pipe connecting devices of this type have heretofore been known, of which those most widely used are so designed that an annular member fitted around a small-diameter pipe is fixedly connected to a large-diameter pipe by a plurality of bolts and nuts disposed in the axial direction of the pipes to be connected together, and a plurality of bolts positioned at right angles to the axial direction and screwed in the annular member are pressed against the outer peripheral surface of the small-diameter pipe from outside radially thereof to fixedly connect the annular member to the small-diameter pipe.
With such conventional construction, however, the annular member is connected and fixed to the small-diameter pipe merely by a plurality of bolts which are disposed around the small-diameter pipe in pressing contact with its outer peripheral surface. Thus the connection between the annular member and small-diameter pipe is low in strength, entailing the drawback that the two pipes are easily removable from each other when subjected to a relatively small force acting thereon to separate one from the other. Especially when a bend is positioned near the connection between two pipes, the fluid pressure within the pipe exerts on the connection a fairly great force which acts to separate one pipe from the other, so that the device of the conventional construction described is not reliable to use at such portion.
Further when two pipes are connected together or separated from each other, the annular member and large-diameter pipe must of course be connected together or separated from each other using bolts and nuts and, moreover, the annular member and small-diameter pipe must be connected together or separated from each other using additional bolts. The conventional device therefore has the drawback of necessitating a very troublesome procedure in connecting and disconnecting two pipes.